Method of making fibrous pulleys



April 39, 1935. G. R. FOX

METHOD OF MAKING FIBROUS PULLEYS Filed June 16, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTbR: Gav/ya f5, FM

A TTORNEY.

April 39, 1935. G, R, Fo 9 1,999,409

METHOD OF MAKING FIBROUS PULLEYS Filed June 16; 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

MTTORNEY.

atented Apr. 30, 1935 UNITED STATES} PATENT OFFICE 24 Claims.

My invention relates to fibrous pulleys and the method of manufacturing the same, and particularly to pulleys having a belt riding body built up from. laminae securely applied to a tubular metallic core, or hub.

The object of my invention is to provide a method of quickly assembling the laminae, or body discs of a pulley upon a tubular metallic core or hub, and in such a manner that after one pulley has been formed, the next and succeeding pulleys are formed one above the other within a tube which extends from a punch press, or like machine to a point below the machine, or to one or several floors below the press and pulleys are discharged to be carried away for the final finishing operations to provide commercially practical pulleys.

A further object of the invention resides in an improved method of manufacturing pulleys, wherein they maybe made rapidly and at a relatively low cost.

The above and other objects and the full nature of the invention willbe apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings.

Fig. l isa View partly in front elevation and partly in sectional elevation of the machine used in the manufacture of my pulleys, one above the other.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the tube within which the pulleys are formed and associating parts thereof.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the upper end of the tube within which the pulleys are formed and associating parts thereof.

Fig. 4 is a detail of the lower end of a press plunger towhich a pluralityof fibrous laminae are applied to be carried thereby and applied to a pulley hub.

I Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a pulley as discharged from the tube of the machine.

Fig. 6 is an end View of the pulley, shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation of the finished pulley.

.Fig. 8 is a detail of one of the solid leather end lamina.

Fig. 9 is a detail of one of the interposed fibrous lamina which is of a softer materal than the solid leather lamina.

Fig. 10 is a detail of the pulley hub.

As shown in the drawings, each pulley comprises a plurality of lamina forming the body of the pulley. The end laminae designated l, of the body, are of a hard material, such for instance as from the lower end of which tube, the formedv solid one hundred percent leather, or its equivalent, shaped into the form of circular plates, or discs, each having a central hub receiving opening 2 and a plurality of equally spaced fastener receiving openings 3. The interposed laminae designated 4, of the body are of a relatively soft material, such for instance, as a composition of ground leather, paper and chemicals, or its equivalent, shaped into circular plates, ordiscs each having a central hub receiving opening 5 and a plurality of equally spaced fastener receiving openings 6. The two grades of laminae are adapted to be applied, under pressure, onto a tubular metallic core, or hub 1 having suitably shaped longitudinalouter facial ribs 8, which ribs are adapted to bite into the material of the plates surrounding the central openings thereof to prevent the laminae from rotary displacement upon the hub, or vice-versa.

The laminae of the pulley are adhesively secured together by applying an adhesive coating to opposite faces of each alternate interposed laminae 2 and finally anchoring them against any possible separation by means of suitable fastening devices, such as nails, screws, or the like 9, extending into the body from the leather end plates l thereof.

In the manufacture of my pulleys, the hard fibrous end discs, units, or plates I, such as shown in Figs. 5 and 8 and the interposed relatively soft plates, discs or units 4, such as shown in Figs. 5 and 9 are adapted to be fabricated onto the core, or hub 1. The hub is vertically supported upon a circular separating plate l0 and guided from lateral displacement by means of an arbor H, which arbor has its lower end reduced in diameter, as at I Z to provide a shoulder I3. The reduced end 12 of the arbor II is receivable in a central opening 14 in the separating plate It! with the shoulder l3 of the arbor I! resting upon the upper face of the plate l8. The arbor l I extends upwardly through the bore l5 of the hub l, and the upper end of the arbor II is provided with a truncated cone shaped head 16.

The plate In, arbor l l and the hub 1 are all positioned within the upper end of a cylindrical passage l I of a chute, or tube A having an interior substantially equal in diameter to that of the diameter of the laminae used to form the belt riding body of the pulley so that the laminae will fit tightly therein and not slide down the tube of its own accord.

The chute, or tube A has its wall provided at its upper end with a cutaway portion l8 extending from the top edge of the tube to a point with which the upper face of the separating plate it] should register, so as to provide a sight opening in the tube for the operator to observe the position or location of the separating plate I!) and to observe when sufiicient laminae have been applied to the hub l to complete the laminated fibrous body of a pulley.

After the first separating plate i6 has been positioned within the tube A and the arbor l l and hub l positioned, the operation of fabricating the body of the pulley can be commenced. However, in forming the first pulley in the tube, I provide the tube with a rather tight fitting dummy member 59 upon which the plate 18 is seated.

In applying the laminae to the hub 1,:the operator first takes an end disc I and a relatively softer interposing disc 4 and positions them, with the disc l above disc I, upon a plurality of spring supported guide pins 25} carried by the plunger 2! of a suitable press 22 which pins pass through the fastener receiving openings of the discs. The discs are held upon the pins by means of a pair of opposed spring arms 23 lightly engaging the lower edge of the lower disc, designated I. The disc 4 is adhesively coated upon opposite faces.

The central openings of the lamina applied to the pins at the lower end of the plunger are slightly less in diameter than the outside diameter of the hub so that the laminae, when carried downwardly with the plunger, arepiloted onto the hub l by the head of the arbor H. The plunger 2| having a central longitudinal bore 24 of a diameter equal to the diameter of the hub 1, it will be observed that when the plunger is released for downward movement with a plurality of laminae carried thereby, that the hub and arbor head will be receivable in the plunger bore and thelamina forced to home position onto the huh I with the lowermost lamina seated upon the separating plate l8. s

Additional laminae are then applied to the plunger pins, two or more at a time, with each alternate lamina adhesively coated upon opposite faces, andagain the plunger is carried downwardly for forcing the additional laminae onto the hub and upon the lamina previously applied thereto. The laminae guide pins of the plunger, it will be observed; cause the lamina to be applied to the hub with all fastener receiving openings in registered alignment. Thisoperation of ap. plying a plurality of interposing lamina to the hub with each alternate interposing lamina adhesively coated upon opposite faces is repeated until the pulley body has been completed with a solid leather lamina l at each end of the pulley body and the requirednumber of interposing'laminae 4 therebetween.

When the firstpulley has been formed by fabrication, as described, the arbor is removed from the hub and separating plate iii, and a new plate It is applied to the upper end of the pulley just formed. After the new separating plate has been positioned, the arbor witha new hub applied thereto is positioned to be supported by the separating plate as hereinbefore described. The fabrication process is then repeatechas hereinbefore described and each time'a pulley body has been completed, the arbor is removed and a new separating plate anda new hub applied to the arbor is positioned to be supported by the newly applied separating plate.

It will be thus observed, that the pulleys as formed within the tube Aare not removed from the tube upon completion thereof, but that another pulley is formed or constructed upon the one next below in the tube A until a complete pulley drops from the bottom of the tube into a suitable receptacle or onto a conveyor, to be carried to a point where the laminae openings 3 and 6 are provided with suitable fastening devices 9 and the pulleys are then finally placed in a lathe, or like machine to have their belt riding surfaces finished to size to provide a commercially practical pulley.

From the foregoing description, it is obvious that the pulleys when formed, are not removed from the tube A, but allowed to be forced down the tube gradually as the uppermost pulley is being assembled, under pressure, thus it is not necessary to handle the formed pulleys until they have passed out through the bottom of the tube. In the period of time that it requires the pulleys to pass down through the tube, the adhesive applied to the laminae will have dried sufficiently to permit handling the pulleys for the operations of applying the fastening devices thereto and the trueing of the belt surface of the pulleys to form commercially practical pulleys.

It will also be observed, that I have produced a laminated fibrous pulley which will not allow the lamina to rotate upon the hub, or vice-verse, even before the fastening devices have been applied to the fibrous body of the pulley, due to the use of ribs on the hub biting into the edge of the.

laminwsurrounding the central opening thereof as they are being forced under pressure onto the hub 5. H

It will be remembered that the pulley formed by the process described will have laminae ends of a relatively harder material than the laminae interposed therebetween, thus the end lamina will cause the pulley at all times to retain its shape therebetween.

The many advantages of the herein described invention will readily suggest themselvesto those skilled in the art to which it appertains.

It will be remembered that the particular forms of apparatus shown and described, and the particular procedure set forth, are presented for the purpose of illustration-and explanation and that various modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims when fairly construed.

What I claim is:

' l. The method of manufacturing pulleys which consists of applying fibrous laminae under pressure to metal hubs within the confines of a tube and discharging the formed pulleys from the lower end of the tube.

2. The method of applying fibrous laminae to a metallic hub in the manufacture of pulleys consisting in the mounting of a hub within a tubular member, assembling and applying thelaminaeto the hub within the confines of the tubular memher under pressure, forming additional pulleys one above the other in a like manner and discharging the pulleys from the lower end of the tubular member by the pressure applied for forcing the laminae onto the hubs of the pulleys.

3. The method of forming pulleys comprising.

inserting a plate within a tube, supporting a hub upon said plate and being guided by an arbor supported by the plate with the head of the arbor disposed above the hub, assembling a plurality of fibrous laminae on guide pins carried by a plunger with each alternate laminae adhesively coated on opposite faces, pressing the plurality of laminae over the arbor head and into position on the hub by downward pressure of a tubular plunger, repeating the operations of applying the laminae to the hub until the pulley has been fully formed, removing the arbor from the hub, applying a plate upon the formed pulley, positioning the arbor and a hub upon the plate and repeating the operation of applying lamina to the hub until :the second pulley has been formed and then repeating the above operations of forming pulleys one above the other and discharging the pulleys from the lower end of the tube.

l. The method of manufacturing fibrous pulleys having a tubular metallic hub consisting in supporting the hub by an arbor and a separating plate within a vertical tubular member, assembling a plurality of fibrous laminae at a time to be carried by a plunger with each alternate laminae adhesively coated upon opposite faces, applying pressure to the laminae for forcing the same downwardly onto the hub, repeating the operations of applying laminae to the plunger and then to the hub until the pulley body has been formed, removing the arbor from the hub of the formed pulley, applying a separating plate upon the formed pulley, forming another pulley body of assembled fibrous lamina around the hub above the first pulley formed within the tube and continuing the pulley forming operations until the formed pulleys are discharged from the lower end of the tube.

5. The method of manufacturing fibrous pulleys having a tubular metallic hub consisting in supporting the hub by an arbor and a separating plate withina vertical tubular member, assem bling a plurality of fibrous laminae at a time to be carried by a plunger with each alternate laminae adhesively coated upon opposite faces, applying pressure to the laminae for forcing the same downwardly onto the hub, repeating the operations of applying laminae to the plunger and then to the hub until the pulley body has been formed, removing the arbor from the hub of the formed pulley, applying a separating plate upon the formed pulley, forming another pulley body of assembled fibrous laminae around the hub above the first pulley formed within the tube, continuing the pulley forming operations until the formed pulleys are discharged from the lower end of the tube and finally trueing the laminated pulley bodies to produce commercially finished pulleys.

6. The method of manufacturing fibrous pulleys having a tubular metallic hub consisting in supporting the hub by an arbor and a separating plate within a vertical tubular member, assembling a plurality of fibrous lamina at a time to be carried by a plunger with each alternate lamina adhesively coated upon opposite faces, applying pressure to the laminae for forcing the same downwardly onto the hub, repeating the operations of applying laminae to the plunger and then to the hub until the pulley body has been formed, removing the arbor from the hub of the formed pulley, applying a separating plate upon the formed pulley, forming another pulley body of assembled fibrous laminae around the hub above the first pulley formed within the tube, continuing the pulley forming operations until the formed pulleys are discharged from the lower end of the tube, applying fastening devices to the laminae of the discharged pulleys and finally trueing the laminated pulley bodies to produce commercially finished pulleys.

7. The method of making pulleys which consists in forming a plurality of circular fibrous laminae and providing them with central circular openings, fastener receiving openings, assembling 3 the lamina: in'groups with each alternate laminae of each group being adhesively coated upon opposite faces, forcing each group of laminae under pressure onto a peripherally ribbed hub centrally disposed within a tube, repeating the operation of forming one pulley above another next below within the tube and discharging the pulleys from the bottom of the tube. a

8. The method of manufacturing pulleys which comprises forming a plurality of circular fibrous laminae with central circular openings, assembling the laminae by applying a plurality of lamina at a time with each alternate laminae adhesively coated upon opposite faces, a hub supported by aseparating plate disposed within a tube, forcing the lamina in groups over an arbor head into position on the hub under pressure until sufficient laminae have been fabricated to form the body of a pulley, fabricating a second pulley body upon a hub above the first pulley and thereby intermittently forcing the first pulley downwardly within the tube and continuing the assembling of pulleys as above described until the formedpulleys are discharged from the lower end of the tube.

9. The method of manufacturing pulleys which comprises forming a plurality of circular fibrous laminae with central circular openings, assembling the laminae by applying a plurality of laminae at a time with each alternate laminae adhesively coated upon opposite faces, a hub supported by aseparating plate disposed within a tube, forcing the laminae in groups over an arbor head into position on the hub under pressure until sufficient laminae have been fabricated to form the body of a pulley, fabricating a second pulley body upon a hub above the first pulley and thereby intermittently forcing the first pulley downwardly within the tube, continuing the assembling of pulleys as above described until the formed pulleys are discharged from the lower end of the tube, applying fastening devices to the laminated body of a discharged pulley and finally trueing the belt engaging surface of each pulley to finished form.

10. The method of making pulleys which comprises providing the peripheral face of a tubular cylindrical metallic hub with longitudinal ribs, forming a plurality of centrally apertured laminae of leather material, assembling a plurality of laminae with the opposed faces of each alternate laminae provided with an adhesive for adhering to the adjacent laminae, applying pressure to the assembled laminae for forcing the same onto the hub, repeating the said operations until the pulley is formed and forming one pulley above another within the tube and discharging the formed pulleys from the bottom of the tube.

11. The method of manufacturing pulleys which consists in providing a hollow metallic cylindrical hub with outer longitudinal facial ribs, forming a plurality of centrally apertured circular laminae of fibrous material, positioning a separating plate having a central recess within an open ended vertical hollow cylindrical tube under a power actuated plunger, mounting the hub upon an arbor having a conical head and then positioning the hub and arbor within the upper end of the tube so as to be supported by the separating plate therein, applying a plurality of assembled lamina to the plunger with each alternate lamina provided with an adhesive upon opposite faces, forcing the assembled plurality of laminae over the arbor and onto the hub under pressure of the plunger, repeating the operations until sufiicient laminae have been applied to the hub to complete a pulley, thenremovingthe arbor from the hub, positioning another separating plate within the tube upon the assembled pulley, applying a hub to the removed guide pin and inserting same within the tube so as to be supported by the separating plate, assembling and applying laminae to the newly positioned hub as previously described and continuing the aforesaid pulley forming operations which finally results in the assembled pulleys being discharged from the bottom of the tube from where they are removed and finally finished to form.

12. The methodof manufacturing pulleys having a fibrous laminated body mounted on a metallic hub, consisting in supporting the hub within a tube, assembling groups of fibrous laminae with each alternate laminae adhesively coated, and applying the grouped laminae to the hub under pressure until the pulley body is formed, repeating theoperations of pulley assembling so that the pulleys are formed one above the other within the tube and discharging the pulleys from the bottom of the tube.

13. The method of manufacturing pulleys having a fibrous laminated body mounted on a-metallic hub having longitudinal outer facial ribs, consisting in supporting the hub withina tube, assembling a plurality of laminae with each alternate laminae adhesively coated, applying one group at a time of assembled laminae to the hub under pressure until the pulley has been formed and forming one pulley upon another with a separating plate therebetween within the tube and dis? charging the pulleys from the lower open end of the tube.

14. The method of building laminated pulleys which comprises positioning a pulley hub in the upper end of a relatively long, open-ended press tube of slightly less diameter than that of the washers which form the laminated body, seating cemented washers on said hub and by successive ramming operations forcing said hub further into the press tube at each operation until the full face width of the pulley has been obtained.

15. The method according to claim 14 repeated on successive pulley hubs each positioned in the press tube on top of the previously assembled pulley and each rammed into the tube step by step, said plurality of assembled pulleys while in the tube being under continual endwise and lateral pressure.

16. The method of building laminated pulleys which comprises assembling a sufiicient number of pasted washers on a hub to obtain a desired face width of pulley and ramming the assembly into one end of a press tube of slightly less diameter than that of the washers, ramming other like assemblies of washers on other hubs into said press tube until the tube is full wherein an independent parting layer or separator is introduced between each complete assembly of Washers on a hub to prevent adhesion of adjoining assemblies while under compression within" the tube and then continuing the assembling and ramming operations successively to eject dried and compressed pulleys from the other end of the tube.

. 17. The method of assembling a pulley hub and a plurality of washers to form a laminated body which comprises successively threading cemented washers on the hub, one or more at a. time, until the hub is covered to the desired face Width, and maintaining the several accumula-' tions under lateral pressure while the laminated body is being built up to said face width.

18. The method according to claim 17 wherein the complete assembly is then maintained for a time under both endwise and lateral pressure.

19. The method according to claim 17 repeated to form a succession of pulleys in a column within an open ended tube wherein, after the tube is full, each newly assembled pulley at the top thereof will eject a compressed pulley from the bottom thereof.

20. The method of building laminated pulleys which comprises assembling a. suflicient number of pasted washers on a hub to obtain a desired face width of pulley and ramming the assembly into one end of a press tube of slightly less diameter than that of the washers, ramming other like assemblies of washers on other hubs into said press tube until the tube is full, and then continuing the assembling and ramming operations successively to eject dried and compressed pulleys from the other end of the tube.

21. The method of building up laminated blocks, which comprises applying cement on the faces of the laminations, and ramming said laminations through an open form of slightly smaller diameter than the laminations to exert pressure thereon.

22. The method of building up laminated blocks, which comprises applying cement to a plurality of laminations, ramming said laminations into an open cylinder to compress them, and continuing the ramming operation until the blocks discharge from the open end of the cylinder.

23. The method of building up laminated blocks, which comprises applying cement to a plurality of laminations, ramming said laminations into an open cylinder to compress them into a block;

of pre-determined thickness, placing a separation plate in said cylinder, and continuing the ramming operation to form succeeding blocks in said cylinder.

24. In the method of manufacturing pulleys, the preparation of a plurality of similar centrally perforated discs, applying cement to said discs, ramming the discs through a cylinder to exert pressure on the discs and cause them to adhere and thereby produce a pulley block having a central bore for receiving a hub.

GEORGE R. FOX. 

